Different Kinds of Workplaces: Determining The Best Environment For You

Every one of us hopes to be part of a great company and wants to work in a high performing office environment. We all want to be at our best, to be with colleagues that doesn’t just challenge us but also help us grow while doing work that’s both financially rewarding and meaningful.

But success is subjective. There’s more than one kind of triumphant organization and more than one type of productive workplaces. What matters most at work is that the values that drive your employers are aligned with the values that motivate you. That the culture that defines the life within the company matches your personal style and that the people whom you work with pushes you to think, grow, and can even make you laugh.

Regardless of the industry or career path we’re taking, each one of us should reflect on the kind of environment that works best for us. Do we thrive on the adrenaline rush of competition, or do we prefer a more collaborative nature? Are we craving for individualistic achievements and personal recognition or do we celebrate collective success? Can we sacrifice our emotional and psychological well-being for financial rewards, or is doing something meaningful more important for us?

Harvard Business Review’s Bill Taylor tested out some of the world’s most creative, lively, and productive offices from varying fields. In his journey, he identified four types of workplaces and have come up with sixteen that can help professionals figure out what works best for them.

Granted there’s no right or wrong answers to these questions; there’s really no perfect place or environment for anyone. But it could help people find the best platform for them to do great work in.

This kind of workplace is one that radiates an all-for-one, one-for-all spirit that’s founded by trust, teamwork, and peer-to-peer loyalty. Of course, clients matter but this kind of office elevates the needs of their employees more. Their formula for success starts and ends with what’s right for their people.

These are the kinds of organizations who are made up of competitive professionals whose basis of success comes from their personal goals. The ideology is sink-or-swim. And though it seems like quite a rough environment, it works for some organizations such as investment banks and hedge funds as well as law firms and tech titans. In workplaces such as this, individual achievements are what keeps the company afloat.

In this kind of environment, workers worry less about their respective happiness or individual success and focus more on the collective impact they create. These workspaces carry a certain modest quality within them – a willingness to make sacrifices and go to extraordinary lengths to keep their promises to both their customers and partners. With a “mission first” spirit, their team does whatever it takes to get the job done. One good example of this is the United Services Automobile Association, the successful financial services exclusively serving both active and retired military members and their families. The organization has become a passion brand, known for its marvelous service, because their employees identify positively with soldiers and their families – putting their interests above their own. More than just another business, USAA stands for a cause.

Certain individuals – whether motivated by a sense of mission or a quench for individual achievement – are at their best condition within environments that are easy to navigate, those that have few obstacles standing in between ideas and action, where urgency defines the pace of life.  Entrepreneurship guru Bo Burlingham’s business classic Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big captures the spirit of this kind of workplace perfectly, a space where human scale matters more over massive revenue and big market shares. In an ecosystem where smaller and smaller teams can achieve bigger and greater things, size matters – and small packages can bring great things.

Nothing else compares to doing work that matters, but it also means finding a company, organization, or team with a workplace that’s right for you; and that’s what coworking spaces aim to be.

The growing international movement hopes to give everyone a chance by providing them a wide variety of workspaces that would help them be better professionals and by surrounding them with like-minded colleagues who would bring out the best within themselves. From communal areas that encourage collaboration and help cultivate healthy networks to private offices that guarantee them acoustical focus, coworking spaces is a brilliant modern office that gives you different environments all in one place.

Talk to us today and we’ll help you pick out which is best for you and your team!